KATHLEEN MATTHEWSDECEMBER 12, 1936 - NOVEMBER 12, 2003

Kathy, being born and ‘raised’ as a beach child; a southern California blond babe – even though she was very young, was moved, at ten years old to the south – to Florence, AL where she fell into Southern Living like a duck takes to water. She picked up the lingo and accent and abandoned her California Girl style quickly. Of course, she was only ten years old. I remember her coming home form Turner’s Store, just around the corner, where she went for some bread. She was scared to death when she got home and told Mother "the lady at the store was going to poke me.” Mother knew Mrs. Turner very well and knew she would never hurt anyone. It seems that when Kathy paid for the bread, Mrs. Turner asked “if she would like a poke for that.” Kathy, not quite into the lingo yet then, thought Mrs. Turner was going to hit her. She just wanted to put the bread in a sack. It was so funny. She attended Brandon school until we moved to Loretto, TN about three years later. There she attended Loretto Elementary and after that Loretto High School, where she graduated.

Kathy was married twice; first to Robert Louis Schmidt
(born about 1933 in Alpena, MI), marriage date unknown. They had no
children. Then she married Bruce Clayton Lyle (born about 1928 in
McMinnville, TN), marriage date also unknown.

Kathy at an FDA Party in Nashville

First thing we both did after we graduated from High School and moved way was to shorten our names. We were always called Kathleen and Janice – which we changed to Kathy and Jan. She moved to Nashville, TN and over the years, had several positions; usually in Doctors offices or Hospitals, in clerical positions. When I was newly divorced, in Terre Haute, IN, she came up to help me through the transition from married to single (with 5 children to raise). We moved all her furniture and everything to a little rock home big enough for all of us and close to where we worked – Columbia Records Company. I decided I would be able to get a better job in Kansas City, MO and made preparations to move there after about a year. Kathy wanted to return to the south, so she got a job with the Police Department in Huntsville, AL when I moved to KC. My son Scott helped her move her things – it was his first real experience with the south. After I bought a home in KC, I asked Kathy if she would like to come for a visit and check out the earning potential there. She could live with me – I had plenty of room for her – so she did that. She got a job with the FDA and worked several years in KC, eventually moving from my home to an apartment to be on her once again. An opening with FDA became available in Nashville so she went down to investigate and loved being back home. It was no difficult decision to return to the south and Nashville that she loved so well. Kathy was in poor health before her retirement in 2000, and became worse over the next three years she lived. She had lung cancer, emphysema, COPD and all that goes with that kind of thing. She is greatly missed by me and by my children who came to know and love her.

MORE ABOUT KATHY

Kathy was married twice; first to Robert Louis Schmidt (born about 1933 in Alpena, MI), marriage date unknown. They had no children. Then she married Bruce Clayton Lyle (born about 1928 in McMinnville, TN), marriage date also unknown. They had no children.Kathy, being born and ‘raised’ as a beach child; a southern California blond babe – even though she was very young, was moved, at ten years old to the south – to Florence, AL where she fell into Southern Living like a duck takes to water. She picked up the lingo and accent and abandoned her California Girl style quickly. Of course, she was only ten years old.

I remember her coming home form Turner’s Store, just around the corner, where she went for some bread. She was scared to death when she got home and told Mother "the lady at the store was going to poke me.” Mother knew Mrs. Turner very well and knew she would never hurt anyone. It seems that when Kathy paid for the bread, Mrs. Turner asked “if she would like a poke for that.” Kathy, not quite into the lingo yet then, thought Mrs. Turner was going to hit her. She just wanted to put the bread in a sack. It was so funny.

She attended Brandon school until we moved to Loretto, TN about three years later. There she attended Loretto Elementary and after that Loretto High School, where she graduated.Kathy as an Adult

First thing we both did after we graduated from High School and moved way was to shorten our names. We were always called Kathleen and Janice – which we changed to Kathy and Jan.

She moved to Nashville, TN and over the years, had several positions; usually in Doctors offices or Hospitals, in clerical positions. When I was newly divorced, in Terre Haute, IN, she came up to help me through the transition from married to single (with 5 children to raise). We moved all her furniture and everything to a little rock home big enough for all of us and close to where we worked – Columbia Records Company.

I decided I would be able to get a better job in Kansas City, MO and made preparations to move there after about a year. Kathy wanted to return to the south, so she got a job with the Police Department in Huntsville, AL when I moved to KC. My son Scott helped her move her things – it was his first real experience with the south.

After I bought a home in KC, I asked Kathy if she would like to come for a visit and check out the earning potential there. She could live with me – I had plenty of room for her – so she did that. She got a job with the FDA and worked several years in KC, eventually moving from my home to an apartment to be on her once again. An opening with FDA became available in Nashville so she went down to investigate and loved being back home. It was no difficult decision to return to the south and Nashville that she loved so well.

Kathy was in poor health before her retirement in 2000, and became worse over the next three years she lived. She had lung cancer, emphysema, COPD and all that goes with that kind of thing. She is greatly missed by me and by my children who came to know and love her.